Moody 336 Blue water capable?

[Jack Smith]

Hello,
I have sailed a lot of heavy boats (Vic 34, Challenge 67, Vancouver 34, Nic 55, Nic 40). All my blue water / ocean experience has been on such yachts. I am considering a Moody (S)336 as a part-time live board, with the aim of conducting offshore passages in her during holidays; including Canaries, Azores, Northwest Europe, North Sea etc. I would welcome views/opinions as to whether the Moody 336 is sufficiently capable for such passages, whether she has sufficient tankage and offshore adaptability. Can a Moody 336 carry correct sail for such passages, eg working jib, staysail, trisail; can they be rigged for a secondary forestay (or some other additional foresail option), secondary main track, etc. Can a trisail be easily rigged? Does anyone have experience in adding / adapting to power systems: wind solar, solar, towed array, etc. How does she handle in heavy weather / big seas? Have there ever been issues with: keel bolts, skeg/rudder, wet decks, chain plates? From what I can see, access to chain plates, and deck fittings/bolts are very hard to access - all behind fitted cupboards.

I would welcome all thoughts and opinions on this?
Very happy to take a call from anyone willing to offer advice.

 

[Philip Smith]

Hi Jack,

We are planning on entering Ragtime, a fin keel 336 mk1 in the 2027 AZAB race. I attended the RCYC AZAB 50 celebrations last week and met the owners of Franglais, an almost identical 336 which completed the race double handed.

Things to consider.

Headsail setup: We have invested a lot of energy installing a suitable deck fitting for an inner forestay. It is not a simple job if you want something suitable for flying a stormsail in an actual storm. We glassed in a new partial bulkhead behind the anchor windlass well and installed a heavily over engineered chainplate system.

We are still working on actual stay and sail arrangement, we have finally settled on a profurl bottom up furling system as used by Florence (see sailing yacht Florence on Youtube). We will be able to fly a heavy weather jib for use to windward and swap out for a stormsail.

For downwind sailing the 336, as any masthead sloop, requires old school thinking. We use a foreguy and the pole with our 140% genoa extensively. Ragtime is a treat set up like this, able to handle 20kts with the wind upto 20 degrees either side of dead astern. One reef and a few rolls in the genoa and we are surfing in conditions gusting 30kts. This rig is simple and easy to work short handed and really easy to de-power. Foreguy and pole setup and practice really pay off.

Autopilot. We have an old ST4000 Wheel pilot which can handle Ragtime in upto 15kts and slight sea state, beyond that I dont trust it, particularly in bigger seas downwind. We are in the process of installing an internal drive and course computer.

We love Ragtime, and with the right setup I have no hesitation taking her offshore and across oceans.